ProRodeo Sports News - October 5, 2018

IN HIS OWNWORDS: COLE DAVISON AT 29, HEELER MAKES FIRSTWRANGLER NFR

I t’s awesome that I’m going to the Finals. I’m probably not the best person to ask. My wife (Whitney Baker Davison) has already joked with me, saying, “Oh, you’re just too cool,” because I don’t show how excited I am. Everybody who knows me, knows I’m really happy. I just don’t show it. I think it’s going to dang sure show up when I get out there. It’s going to be pretty cool. But I’ve been that way my whole life – try not to let anything affect me, high or low. I felt good about my chances of qualifying for the Wrangler NFR from the start, to be honest. I had the best header (Kolton Schmidt) I’ve ever had this year and the best horse (Apolo) I’ve ever had. So, I was excited from the start. This summer, when we kept having good week after good week after good week it was sinking in – I’ve got a legitimate chance here. Keep doing what we’re doing and don’t change anything, not try any harder. It stinks that Kolton isn’t coming with me. I can’t thank him enough for getting it done for me. We’ve been friends for a while. He stayed at my house the first time we decided to truly rodeo. We’ve been friends, and I really, really wanted to rope with him out there. Sometimes it doesn’t go that way. You’ve Team roping heeler Cole Davison is headed to his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Unofficially, Davison finished the 2018 season with $66,252, good for 13th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. Davison will rope with header Tyler Wade after their respective partners this season did not get into the Top 15. The 29-year-old originally from Texas is looking forward to his first Finals trip, even if you probably can’t tell.

got to make the best of it, and I’m going to have a good partner out there. But I wish it was him. (Tyler Wade) and I roped together at San Juan Capistrano (Calif.). I’ve known Tyler since we were little. He’s a little bit younger than I am, but we went to the same places growing up, amateur rodeos. I’m excited about roping with him out there. He’s been there before. I practice all day, every day anyway. It’s not like we’re going to have a big, vamped-up practice. But we’re going to dang sure rope together before we get out to Las Vegas. (Eleven-time, Wrangler NFR heading qualifier) Luke Brown texted me last night, so I’ll probably go over there and practice some and try to get some information from the better guys that have been there a lot and try to use that. In 2014, I finished 17th in the standings and missed qualifying for the NFR by about $4,000. It didn’t affect me emotionally. But I changed a few things in my roping and with my horses – things I thought I needed to change but figured out I didn’t need to change. I just needed to work harder on the things that worked for me. That set me back a couple years to get it sorted out. I got to be real good friends with (2016 Team Roping Heeler World Champion) Jeremy Buhler. We went through the same things on changing this and changing that. He told me, if we just work on what works for us it’s good enough. We’ve got to work on that and not let outside things affect us. With rodeo slowing down a bit for the fall, I’m going to try and go hunting with some good buddies and then hang out with my little girls (Milli, 8, Letti, 11 months). I’m blessed. My wife rides barrels, so the family gets to go with me most of the summer. I get to take Milli to school every morning, and I get to wake Letti up every morning. There’s nothing better than that.

ProRodeo Sports News 10/5/2018

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